Valkin (Earth-616)
| CurrentAlias = | Aliases = All-Father; General Vulcanin (sometimes spelled "Volcanin"; discarded alias); Vulcan, | Identity = Secret | Identity2 = | Affiliation = Eternals of Earth; previously Polar Eternals, , Soviet Army and . | Relatives = Virako (brother, deceased); Druig (son); Ikaris (nephew and adopted son); Icarus (aka Ikaris, great-nephew and adoptive grandson, deceased); Arex, Sersi (relationship unclear, probably cousins in some degree); Ajak, Sprite (also probable cousins in some degree, deceased) | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Formerly Polaria, Siberia. Mobile in outer space with the Uni-Mind. | Quotation = Uncle…I-I don't know what to say. For a millenium, you were a father to me." "And you did me honor more than my natural son ever did, Ikaris. But Thena was right… Our people had grown stagnant here upon the Earth. Our destiny lies among the stars… We learned that much within the Uni-Mind! | Speaker = Ikaris and Valkin | Gender = Male | Height = 6'1" | Weight = 290lbs | Eyes = Blue | Hair = Black | UnusualFeatures = | CharRef = | Citizenship = Polaria | Citizenship2 = (Vulcanin); citizen of U.S.S.R. without criminal records Category:Soviets | MaritalStatus = Married | MaritalStatus2 = | Occupation = Leader of the Eternals of Earth; strategist. Previously ruler of the Polar Eternals; General of the Soviet Army and architect. | Education = | Origin = Eternal | PlaceOfBirth = Unknown | PlaceOfBirth2 = | Creators = Martin A. Burnstein; Jack Kirby | First = Red Raven Comics #1 | First2 = | HistoryText = Origin Circa 1.000.000 BC, the super-advanced spacefaring species known as the Space Gods or the Celestials visited Earth and genetically manipulated the dominant, pre-human ape species to stimulate its evolution, splitting the locals into three sub-species. One of the branches, later known as the Eternals, was modified to increase their ability to manipulate some amounts of cosmic energy with only the power of their minds. When the Celestials had left, the Eternals chose to build their society isolated from their two cousin species inasmuch as possible. Millenia later, the Eternals obtained cosmic regeneration powers and virtual immortality thanks to the experiments of the Eternal Kronos that activated Eternal latent genes, and they soon discovered how to merge into a single entity known as Uni-Mind, which they use to choose their leader, Eternal Zuras; Zura's brother A'Lars exiled himself to a different world. Zuras ordered to build a capital city for the eternals, Olympia; two other Eternal cities were also built: Oceania and Polaria, the later in Siberia. Valkin was one of the Polar Eternals, known as ungentlemanly brutes among the more sophisticated Olympian Eternals. Valkin was brother to Virako, the powerful and commanding leader of the Polar Eternals; Valkin also fathered the intellectual Eternal called Druig, whom athletic Virako despised as a manipulative person. Valkin instead excused Druig, but he would later conclude that he had unattended Druig's training, leading to Druig being (negatively) influenced by human culture. Valkin respected Zuras and was in good terms with other Eternals including Aginar, Zarin and Virako's son Ikaris. The Celestials returned around 18.000 BC, causing great uproar among the Earthling civilizations. They also judged and condemned one Celestial, depriving him of his weapons and his essence, which were then trusted to Valkin. To protect these valuables, Valkin decided to store them within the Pyramid of the Four Winds, which was apparently an Arctic facility built by Virako. Dromedan and the Third Host c. 1000 AD, the Polar Eternals' extraordinary insight told them that the Celestials would soon visit Earth in their "Third Host". In preparation, they started a 25-Eternal mission to contribute to the civilization of some human groups in pre-Colombian America. There, they established a secret headquarters in South America and from their base, small groups of Eternals visited human tribes to introduce them to new technologies and prompt them to build huge monuments. Team co-leader Valkin joined Ajak and Druig under Virako's leadership to visit the Aztecs, Incas and Mayas -whom took the flying, superpowerful Eternals for gods. Meanwhile, the Asgardian Thor, feeling unsatisfied after failing to expand the worship of Asgardians, wandered through the world to the Americas. There he found the telepathic Dromedan, a dangerous being created by the Deviant species -sworn enemy of the Eternals- to be used as a weapon against the Eternals, until the Deviants decided Dromedan was too dangerous and instead imprisoned him. Valkin and the Eternals knew about Dromedan's story, but they did not know where he was imprisoned. Thor then visited the area now known as Peru and urged the local Incas to worship him. The Incas instead attacked Thor and, finding him too powerful, rejected him as a demon. The scene was seen by Valkin and his partners who, by then, had erected themselves as protectors of the Incas. Druig rashly attacked Thor, only to be promptly battered - but Valkin used this exchange to start assessing the stranger's power. Ajak joined Druig in combat and was also defeated. Virako then offered a diplomatic approach, while Valkin helped Ajak recovered. Thor agreed to speak instead of fighting. Virako asked Thor to meet him atop a mountain, instead of discussing in front of the primitives; Valkin, not knowing the full extent of Thor's powers, offered to carry Thor. When Thor joined them effortlessly, Valkin thought they were in front of a being of nature unbeknownst to the Eternals. Virako and the Eternals soon understood that Thor was a mythical god and told Thor about the Celestials, Eternals and Deviants and about their current mission due to the eventual Celestial judgement. Even then, Valkin decided that the Eternals would probably have to delete Thor's memories of this encounter at a later point - a strategy Valkin later shared with Ajak, who agreed. Thor revealed his encounter with Dromedan; Valkin approved of Thor not releasing such a monster. Although Valkin wanted to avoid Dromedan, Druig believed Dromedan could be a useful asset if controlled, and concocted an excuse -staying behind to check on the Incas instead of traveling with the Eternals- to try and dominate Dromedan. Thor joined the Eternals in their civilization mission, travelling with Ajak, Valkin and Virako to future Mexico. The four powerful beings were worshiped as gods by these early Aztecs, and for several weeks the Eternals trained the Aztecs to build civilizations. They left one of them behind, probably Valkin, to prevent the locals to return to savager,; with the others traveling to the Maya empire where they spent weeks there. Once satisfied, the four (Ajak, Thor, Valkin and Virako) reunited and returned to Peru to check on Druig. When they flew back to Peru on a vehicle, they noticed the Incas were building Pyramids precociously but were delayed in other aspects. Valkin deduced that Druig had lost patience with their program, but the truth was even worse: Dromedan was mind-controlling Druig. Both revealed their presence and Dromedan then used his powers to mind-control all three Eternals. Thor, not being an Eternal, resisted and used his powers to help Virako recover. Although the vehicle collided with the ground, Dromedan understood he had not defeated their enemies so, when the Eternals recovered, Dromedan summoned two minions: Thunder, a local god; and Tutinax, another Deviant mutate. Virako asked Thor to confront Thunder while the Eternals fought Tutinax. Tutinax easly fell Virako and Valkin - too easily, because both Eternals were just feinting to approach the enemy. Valkin attacked Tutinax with his optic blasts; Tutinax dodged, but he admitted he was facing dangerous foes. Tutinax grabbed a huge boulder, but Valkin then said the Eternals had a great advantage against Tutinax: teamwork. Valkin's speech was to distract Tutinax so that Ajak could sucker-punch him Tutinax behind. However, Dromedan then used his power to hide sunlight, giving Tutinax a breather to recover. Tutinax grabbed anything nearby and used it as a throwing weapon against the Eternals. In response, Ajak, Virako and Valkin simultaneously blasted Tutinax with optic blasts. Finally, Tutinax was defeated and teleported away. Far from being defeated, Dromedan summoned a huge tidal wave, an attack that made Valkin himself stagger - but Thor breached the floor to drain all the water. Dromedan then exhibited a new weapon in a canister, one that Valkin did not recognize - but Viraok did: it was the World-Devouring Worm, a monster that grew to the size of mountains and started devouring the Inca cities. Valkin joined Ajak and Thor confronting the beast, but they only made it bigger because it absorbed any kind of energy they used. Virako devised a strategy: Deviants did not know about nuclear energy when they had created the Worm in times gone by, thus the Worm could not be immune to it. Virako then subjected himself to a radioactive bombardment at the Eternal ship wreckage and jumped to fight the Worm, even though Valkin begged him not to. The Worm disappeared, but Virako was destroyed at the same time in one of the few situations a Eternal could die. Still on his own two feet, Dromedan boasted about how he easily defeated Druig, exasperating Valkin. Valkin jumped to fight Dromedan while insisting that his son's mastery was not physical; however, Dromedan easily resisted Valkin's direct attack. Thor then distracted Dromedan so that Ajak could overfly the enemy and throw a Neutralizer Helmet on Dromedan's head, leaving the monster powerless. So spectacular were the displays of the battle that the Incas added the event to their own myths. Recovering from the attack, fatherly Valkin still tried to justify Druig's actions as having a good motivation; the Asgardian Mimir, who'd remotely witnessed this and many events, disbelieved Valkin's words as, at best, selfdeception. Valkin also explained Thor that Virako's death was permanent and, , as a result of this, Valkin would hereby adopt Virako's son Ikaris as his own, something that Druig secretly found unsatisfactory. After Virako's death, Valkin also became the sole leader of the Polarian Eternal community . The Celestials arrived at the point in their Brobdignacan spaceship. Worrying that Thor could try and oppose the Celestials, Ajak and Valkin used their mind powers to erase Thor's memory about his encouner with the Eternals and sent him away. They did not know that Mimir, another Asgardian, could see all these events and could, at his whim, talk to Thor and rollback the Eternal mind-wipe. Soon afterward, the leaders of several Earth pantheons, resenting the Celestial invasion on their domain, gathered around to confront the Celestials. Thor's father Odin, Olympian leader Zeus (The Olympian gods are not related to the Eternals from Olympia) and Hindu god Vishnu travelled to Peru to challenge the Celestials - only to be opprobriously outmatched. Using Ajak as an intermediary, the Celestials proved to be powerful enough to break their access to the gods' realms, then demanded that the gods cease interfering in any mortal affair for a millenia. To show their agreement, the godheads humbly kneeled before the Celestials in a ceremony witnessed by Valkin. The Judgement Day Is Coming! During the 20th century, the Eternals retreated from human activities. The Deviants, however, increasingly affected human civilizations in an attempt to gain power to confront the upcoming Celestials. During World War II, Deviant warlord Kro impersonated a human military leader to wreak havoc. Zuras sent the Eternal Makkari to stop Kro; to do this, Makkari disguised himself as the Roman god Mercury, with Zuras pretending to be Jupiter and even Kro portraying Pluto. Before sending "Mercury", "Jupiter" had previously considered other divine agents, including fire-eating Vulcan -probably Valkin's masquerade-, who was discarded because "Vulcan" and "Pluto" had many similitudes, leading to "Jupiter" mistrusting "Vulcan". Things changed after the end of the World War. Several Eternals integrated in human society by the 1960s. Valkin and several other Polar Eternals joined the U.S.S.R. under false identities as humans, being their goal to deter the Russians from starting an open atomic war by using diplomacy. Valkin, as "General Vulcanin" or "Volcanin", raised in the Soviet ranks by emphasizing restraint, being supported by other Eternals-as-Soviet-officers such as Aginar, Zarin and Druig, all four of them as KGB members. During this time, the Fourth Host of Celestials reached Earth, to judge whether the "mankind experiment" was to be discontinued or not; and their existence was disclosed to humans, Deviants and Eternals. Zuras summoned all the Eternals to Olympia to form a Uni-Mind and determine an answer to give to the Celestials in their judgement.E10 The Polar Eternals delayed their trip, as they had an important meeting to attend at the Kremlin: The First Secretary of the Presidium wanted his Generals to decide what to do with 2000-feet-tall Celestial Nezarr the Calculator, who was strolling through the Siberian wastes, disregarding Soviet preence. Belligerent General Greshkov wanted to attack the creature to prove the Soviet worth; "Vulcanin", instead, wanted to delegate the issue to intellectuals and scientist and that they tried diplomacy to discover the intruder's nature. Finally, the Secretary gave Greshkov the command on the issue, and Vulcanin left for his following pressing appointment. Greshkov later tried to nuke Nezarr, but Nezarr caused a heart attack on Greshkov and each of his men. Vulcanin and his entourage boarded a Soviet helicopter, then forfeited their disguises and teleported to Olympia. At their arrival, they collided with athletic Eternals Delphan Brothers, levitating in the area. The Delphans taunted the Polar Eternals for a fight, which Aginar and Zarin joined. Druig and Valkin remained watching, aloof in their words to each other. Ikaris, already in Olympia, joined the battle; but when Valkin decided to participate, he did so with spectacular lightning that scared and separated the combatants. Valkin and the other Eternals then merged in a Uni-Mind, successfully getting new perspectives that helped Zuras develop an aggressive stance about the Celestials. Zuras feared that the Celestials would destroy Earth if they judged unfavorably, so he decided to lead the Eternals against the Celestials. Druig later quested to find the weapon that the Celestials gave Valkin for him to hide. Druig found the weapon's location from Ikaris' mind but, when Druig tried to activate the weapon, Ikaris destroyed both the device and Druig. For his own reasons -mostly to sow discord between Thor and Odin-, Mimir revealed Thor about his thousand-year-old encouer with the Eternals, including Valkin. Thor then started his search for the Celestials, questioning Odin about these beings. Odin refused to speak about that. Thor went back to Peru, and eventually found the leader of the Fourth Host, One Above All, who showed Thor an image of Odin kneeling to the Celestials. Thor eventually found the Eternals and, to some extent, became their ally. Zuras then arranged a new Uni-Mind with all the available Eternals, including Valkin. It was their goal to directly confront the Celestial mothership and One Above All. The Uni-Mind was created, with a tower at Olympia used as a focus to keep it stable; and Thor remained at Olympia. Olympia was then invaded by the Asgardians and their allies the Olympian gods, who aimed to destroy the Eternals' city under Odin's leadership. Thor vainly tried to stop such a superior force, being thus unable to prevent the destruction of the tower, the dissolution of the Uni-Mind and the return of the Eternals. Zuras was particularly weakened by this, falling unconscious. The Eternals and the invaders then fought each other. Zuras barely recovered and asked Zeus why the later had broken the truce. Valkin helped Zuras stand and, when Zeus did not deign to answer Zuras, Valkin took offence and attacked Zeus with lightning bolts, even although Zuras tried to stop him. Zeus responded to the attack with far more powerful lightnings that scattered the surprised Valkin and other nearby Eternals like straws in the winds; Zuras, however, resisted and fought Zeus. The battle only ended, however, when Odin changed his mind and ceased the attack against the Eternals. The gods retreated, and the Eternals resumed their plan, this time with Odin's help. The Eternal's Uni-Mind joined Odin's Destroyer against the Celestials, but the Celestials defeated them all: They destroyed the Uni-Mind, killing Zuras, but they eventually judged Earth worthy of living. The new leader of the Eternals was Zuras' daughter Thena. Valkin's last Deviant conflicts Soon after Zuras's death, Deviant emperor Brother Tode staged and led an attack on Olympia on which the Deviant warrior-nobles sneaked into the city, captured all the Eternals and disassambled their molecules to create a gas that, Tode believe, was the secret to immortality. The second Iron Man appeared, the Eternals were released and the Deviants were captured. Thena immediately called an Eternal assembly and said that, due to psychic contact with his dead father, she had discovered that Eternals were to leave Earth - a controversial subject that raised more than a few eyebrows and even doubts on Thena's sanity. One of the Eternals present demanded to know esteemed Valkin's opinion. When Valkin arrived,Valkin was not seen before this moment; he was probably not even in Olympia when Tode invaded it the Polar Eternal, a known enemy of all Deviants and particularly of Kro and Tode, insisted that the Deviants should be punished by having their atomic structures recodified into a giant stone cube to be eventually thrown to outer space. This was done: The Eternals used their power to transmutate the Deviants and they stored the slab within the foundations of Olympia. One of the Deviants, Kro, was secretly indulted by Thena beforehand. Some time later, the Eternals decided to gather again at Olmpia to join in a Uni-Mind and take a joint decision on their future. Valkin and the Polar Eternals joined the Olympians and Pacifics at Olympia, in a public square meeting. Sersi was reluctant to go, so she had to be almost kidnapped, attracting the attention of superhero team the Avengers, two of whom followed her to Olympia. The Eternals had to convince Avengers Starfox and Wasp -and later also Captain Marvel- of them being harmless; Valkin was present, but allowed Ikaris to be the speaker. Ikaris explained the Eternals history to the Avengers; Avenger Starfox recognize part of it, revealing that Starfox himself was an Eternal from the moon Titan. Eternal Chief Administrator Domo convinced Starfox to join the ritual of the Uni-Mind. They also established peaceful contact with the US-based Avengers and allowed Avenger Vision to remotely record the ritual. When Valkin and thousands of other Eternals, including Sersi and Starfox, joined in the Uni-Mind, they were attacked by Deviant-related villain Maelstrom, who had sneaked into Olympia. Maelstrom first knocked down Captain Marvel and Wasp, and controlled what Vision could see on-screen. Maelstrom promptly prepared a device that ensnared the Uni-Mind and siphoned its raw mental energy into psionic energy that Maelstrom could absorb into his body for power, while weakening the Eternals to eventually kill them. Maelstrom also shackled Captain Marvel and Wasp with Eternal technology, and assigned his minion Deathurge to watch. The Vision worried about this and travelled to Olympia with fellow Avenger Scarlet Witch. When they arrived, Vision attacked Maelstrom but was defeated. The Scarlet Witch instead used her probability-alteration power to move the Uni-Mind back to Olympia, where the merging process could be reverted. Succeeding at this, the Uni-Mind disintegrated into its component Eternals. Captain Marvel and the Wasp also released themselves. The Vision noticed that Maelstrom used a harness to absorb energy, so he broke it. Maelstrom, however, was immune to most of the powers of his enemies and tried to escape with the information he had gathered. The Avengers captured him with a wily use of their power, but then Deathurge apparently betrayed Maelstrom by killing him with his spear (in reality, Deathurge had prepared a new clone body for Maelstrom to access in case of defeat). A few hours later, the Eternals reached an agreement: Many Eternals were to leave Earth, pursuing a new destiny among the stars, leaving behind a small group of Eternals (including Ikaris, Makkari, Sersi, Starfox, Thena and others, the most fitting for life on Earth). Valkin became the leader of the spacefaring Eternals. Valkin and Ikaris movingly said goodbye to each other. The crowd then fused in the Uni-Mind which remained a moment at Olympia. It then decided to take the compressed-Deviant cube with telekinetic powers, raising it to the magnosphere. Then, halfway between Earth and Luna, the Uni-Mind threw the cube away from the solar system, wisely protecting Earth from prospective threats that would have come from those Deviants. The Uni-Mind finally moved to outer space, with it traveling to an unknown destination. | Powers = * Energy generation: All Eternals have this power. As every Eternal have complete and constant mental control over each molecule in his, her or its own body; and as all the Eternals' body cells include cosmic energy, every Eternal can broadcast electromagnetic radiation, force, heat and light. In particular, Valkin can shoot cosmic energy (electricity, heat, impact or light) from his eyes, in the form of destructive eye-beams, or from his hands, in the form of lighting bolts that are powerful enough to stop a brawling between beligerant Eternals Aginar, Ikaris, Zarin and the Delphan Brothers - all of whom were scared when Valkin joined their fray. * Flight: All Eternals can fly and levitate. Valkin in particular can reach a speed of 770 miles per hour (the speed of sound, Mach 1), and carry at least one other person with him during flight. * Illusion casting: All Eternals have this power. Valkin can use his psychic abilities to cast illusions and disguise his own appearance, for instance to pretend that his clothes are a military uniform. * Immortality and Superhuman Durability: Eternals have mental control over their whole bodies. As an Eternal, Valkin can regenerate the cells of his body (including any organ or tissue, even regenerating full limbs) if they are damaged or separated, in most situations. Eternals can only die through an injury that disperses a significant portion of their body molecules, or if their mental control over the body is broken and then the Eternal is injured; and even if their molecules are scattered, there are precedents of Eternals being restored. * Matter transmutation: All Eternals have this power, that can affect both organic and inoranic matter. Valkin can restructure the molecules of an item to transform it into a different item. * Superhuman Agility: His coordination and flexibility goes beyond the possibilities of any human body. * Superhuman Reflexes: Valkin's reaction time is instantaneous. * Superhuman Stamina: Thanks to his Eternal physiology, Valin can sustain peak exertion for several days before his performance becomes impaired due to exhaustion. * Telepathy: All Eternals have this power. Valkin can use it to read the minds of people; but victims with greater psychic power than Valkin are immune. Valkin can also delete memories of a being -even an Asgardian- and replace these with fantasies. This process, however, is reverted if a third party show the removed memoirs to the victim. * Teleportation: All Eternals can teleport but Valkin prefers to move flying by himself or using vehicles. Valkin however has teleported along the vehicle he was in, from Siberia to Greece. | Abilities = Valkin is a brilliant military strategist and a superior architect, respected among his peers for his insight. He is very intelligent, but not particularly creative. He is believed to be a good melee fighter. | Strength = Valkin had superhuman strenght in Class 50, meaning he can lift between 25 and 50 tons over his head. All the Eternals do have superstrenght, but some are stronger than others - Valkin's brother Virako was stronger than him. Valkin's strenght was however a fair match for Thor's. | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = Valkin flies by himself and has also been seen using vehicles, including an Eternal flying device and Soviet airplanes he had access to in his General Vulcanin identity. | Weapons = | Notes = * Valkin was described by Thor as particularly impassible (The word he used was "stolid"). * Valkin, when disguised as General Vulcanin, was a pipe smoker. | Trivia = * * Valkin first appeared in (1977, by Jack Kirby). The Olympian gods seen in (1940, by Martin A. Burstein and Jack Kirby) were retconned as Eternals and Deviants in (2006), which explicitly relates Mercury to Makkari and Pluto to Kro; also suggesting that Jupiter is Zuras. Red Raven Comics features other gods, including Vulcan; it's quite possible -but not 100% confirmed- that Vulcan is an alias of Valkin. * Valkin was mentioned in the Appendix page of ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' #12 (1983), with only a redirection to the Eternals entry in the same series. Valkin is listed and depicted in the entries about the Eternals in ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' #4 (1983), ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' v2 #4 (1986) and ''All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' #4 (2006). * Valkin received a personalized entry in ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition'' #7 (1991), which has a typo talking about the "Third Celestial Host of Celestials". * In and , we see Valkin witnessing the moment of Odin falling to his knees in front of the Celestials, in a flashback. The more detailed recounting of those events in does not feature Valkin at all. | Marvel = | Wikipedia = | Links = }} Category:Ikaris Family